Can I re-phrase the question? Does anyone in this age of photo-shopped models in every ad have an accurate perception of their physical appearance?

I think nearly everyone falls into one of two categories:

1. I am ugly and fat (based on aforementioned models)
2. I'm not that fat (based on the fact that the average person is so much heavier now because of the SAD which has been pushed on us these last 40-50 years. On that note, we may have the SAD (Standard American Diet), but those in the UK have the SUK diet (Standard United Kingdom diet). The name of theirs is more accurate for what we have.

kimberwolf71 wrote: »

Unfortunately (?) I am sort of the opposite. I look in the mirror and I'm still in my mid-20's at an excellent weight. Then I see pictures or put on certain outfits, or attempt something requiring more strength and stamina and think, OMG how and when did this happen?!?

Same! This is why my weight sneaks up, I look in the mirror and see skinny and then pictures come back and I can't even believe it.

I don't like to consider myself 'fat', just temporarily really overweight.
My internal dialogue thinks 'normal', except when:
I see myself in a photo, see myself in a mirror, try on clothes when getting ready for work, put on shorts, try to go for a walk/run. Then I think what the heck happened?

Yes- but it's backwards. I don't see myself as big and I am always shocked when I go to try on clothes and they are too small. I don't know why.

cstehansen wrote: »

Can I re-phrase the question? Does anyone in this age of photo-shopped models in every ad have an accurate perception of their physical appearance?

I think nearly everyone falls into one of two categories:

1. I am ugly and fat (based on aforementioned models)
2. I'm not that fat (based on the fact that the average person is so much heavier now because of the SAD which has been pushed on us these last 40-50 years. On that note, we may have the SAD (Standard American Diet), but those in the UK have the SUK diet (Standard United Kingdom diet). The name of theirs is more accurate for what we have.

The models aren't my problem, I just have a very high expectation of myself. I would whether or not they were there. The karsashians for example are very in right now and their bodies aren't that of the runway model. As for the second part, I feel like people have an unreal picture of me because of the average person being so much heavier now! I definitely have room to improve and not in an unrealistic way. But also, I am too hard on myself. I see myself as unacceptable just because I don't currently look exactly the way I want.

I don't feel as fat as I look, I guess I'm in denial. I took a selfie the other day for the first time and I looked at it and thought *kitten* I have a long way to go! I should have took one 32 pounds ago

I personally wonder how different this conversation would be if we all described our inner avatars/self, without looking at mirrors for a while. I get caught on the flip side of this, too, despite the picture evidence. If I really stop and think about the inner me, she's somewhere in her early twenties, filling out a size 14/16 nicely, curves and all. When I think about myself and who I am and who I'm to be and all of that, she is always the one who comes to mind.

The me at my heaviest weights and unhealthiest version of myself, she is foreign...like some version of me from an alternate timeline. 40 pounds away, give or take from that person, but it seems like 40 years sometimes. I don't even recognize her. I look at those pictures and wonder how I got to that point, at least when I see my face in a picture now, it's much closer to my inner me... The body still has some poundage to go...

I wonder what psychology says about our inner selves. Because many times, I get overwhelmed and caught up in being fat and life being impossible and all of that. Other times, I feel like my inner 20-something self is just kicking my butt, telling me to get moving and stop acting like an old fogie...

I feel like that 20-something me, but all old and wise in the head. Sometimes, looking back, reflecting on mistakes of the past, I even project my now-me's mentality onto past-me's present, and almost like rewriting how it all fell out. I'm not even sure how clearly I could see any of that nowadays... It's like the new me in my head overwrites the old me's ... mental hiccups, but the old's me's physicality is hard written into stone, and the new me's physicality KNOWS it is only temporary???

To reconcile the two seems impossible, but then I realize it's all just me, and it is just as wacky, imbalanced, and unconventional as I've become, and so I just roll with it all...

@McShorty7 - Honestly, I feel that same way every time I carry in a heavy load of groceries from the car! Some people fill up water bottles in a backpack to remind themselves of the weight factor, too!

I lost 70 lbs previously not with this WOE (have gained about 20 back since my lowest weight) and I used to get aggravated when people (my mom mostly) told me that I was getting too skinny and I needed to stop losing weight because I felt like I was finally getting to where I wanted to be.....

Some of it is just jealousy from people that can't get over the fact that you've actually accomplished success in weight loss because it is so hard for most people.

However, sometimes I do look back at pictures from my lowest weight and wonder if maybe I wasn't a little too thin....lol.

I do know that this is the first WOE where I actually feel like I could maintain my weight and get to a point where food doesn't control me so much. I was always great at gaining weight and great at losing weight but not maintaining so much.....So I was always yo-yoing back and forth.

My husband was skeptical at first....He worries about me and cutting out entire food groups scared him a little bit I think. He kept telling me...at some point you are going to have to eat something with carbs in it again. But when I told him how awful I felt after I tried re-introducing some carbs back in and how much happier my body is with this WOE I think he finally got it.

This can go both ways for me.

Sometimes I feel like a lean mean dancing machine, then I see my reflection, or my a arm fat and am taken down a few notches.

Other times I feel like a blimp, then I put on my jeans and they slide down, and I'm like WOW I'm getting there!

I always try to visualize the little Lori inside, before life and societies expectations changed my self esteem, and I take her in my arms and hold her. Tell her she'll always be the most important, my best friend, and I'll be her hero.

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

McShorty7 wrote: »

Carry 30 pounds of potatoes around a grocery store for 5 minutes. It'll really make you think about how far you have come. Seriously - I've done it.

I wear 40-60 lbs. of weight vest for several miles any day that I am not training lower body. Unfortunately, it's still a bit shy of what my starting weight was. I need to get one of the 88 lbs. Vmax vests. That would be almost spot on.

I also need to start wearing them for pullups, now that I am over 15 reps with all of the grip styles.

My inner Hulk says "quit being a little *kitten*".

I'm just happy I can do pullups now. Before it was a matter of maybe getting 3-4. Being able to do sets of 10 or 12 used to seem impossible.

I had kind of the same thing happen with running. I was never a runner. I started trying to run a bit at age 38. Got to the point of getting to a 24 1/2 minute 5k, but couldn't do any better for years. Dropped that extra 30 lbs or so and beat my best time by over 2 minutes and felt bad because I really wasn't winded and thought I could have pushed myself harder.

Those two things are what really hit me the hardest that I really was significantly lighter. Baggy clothes hadn't done it because I had been wearing my clothes a bit on the baggy side for years just because it was more comfortable.

I wonder if showing your daughter images, @Sunny_Bunny_ of someone else at these extremes that she would notice the unhealthiness? If so, you could then show her that her own images were showing identical levels of health risks... Or maybe a friend/boyfriend could tell her repeatedly how healthy she now versus how scared they were before.